Railroad signal-circuit.



PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905.

E. W. VOGEL. RAILROAD SIGNAL CIRCUIT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1901.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE W. VOGEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE RAILROAD SUPPLYCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF lLLlNOIS.

RAILROAD SIGNAL-CIRCUIT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed September 20, 1901. Serial No. 75,928.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE W. VOGEL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Railroad Signal-Circuits; and Ideclare the following to be a full, clear, and eX- act description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itpertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates in general to electrical railroad-signals, and moreparticularly to an arrangement of the controlling-circuits whereby aplurality of signals located at diiferent points are simultaneouslyoperated upon the approach of a train and are successively discontinuedas the train passes by.

It is frequently necessary that a number of signals located at differentpoints along the trackas, for instance, at a series of highwaysshouldall be actuated upon the approach of a train from either direction butit is undesirable that any one of the signals should be continued afterthe train has passed the point where it is located. Previous -to myinvention, so far as I am aware, the arrangements of the circuits foreifecting the operation above described have necessitated the use of twoWire conductors between the several signals, which has added materiallyto the expense of such systems, as the signals are frequently located ata considerable distance apart. The use of two wire conductors is alsoobjectionable in that they are liable to become crossed, therebyshort-circuiting the system.

The object of my invention is to provide an arrangement of circuits foreffecting the simultaneous operation of a plurality of signals upon theapproach of a train and effecting the successive discontinuance of thesignals as each. one is passed by the train in which no wire conductorsbetween the several signals are required, thereby economizing the costof construction and also avoiding the danger of short-circuiting thesystem by the crossing of the conductors, which exists where two wiresare employed.

My invention will be more fully described hereinafter with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which the same is illustrated as embodiedin two convenient and practical forms, and in which Figure 1 is adiagrammatic view illustrating one arrangement of my invention, and Fig.2 a similar view illustrating a modified arrangement of my invention.

Similar reference characters are used to indicate the same parts in thetwo figures of the drawings.

Reference-letters X and Y indicate the rails forming a railroad-track.

A, A and A indicate insulated sections of the track located at eitherside of highways B and B or at other points where it is desirable toplace signals.

a, a and a indicate track-batteries which are connected to the rails ofthe track-sections A, A and A respectively.

Signals F and F of any preferred form are located at the points B and Band are actuated upon the closing of local circuits through batteries Gand G respectively. The local circuits are controlled by interlockingrelays of any desired form, an interlocking relay of the Hovey type,covered by Patent No. 552,181, dated December 30, 1895, beingillustrated for convenience. Electromagnets O C are located intrack-circuits connected to the rails of the insulated track-sections Aand A at either side of the point B. The electromagnets O and C formingpart of the interlocking relay at the signal F are provided withtrack-circuits connected to the rails of the insulated track-sections Aand A at either side of the point B Armatures D, D D and D are attractedby electromagnets O, C C and 0 when the latter are energized, asindicated in the figures of the drawings. When the truck of a trainoccupies any one of the insulated tracksections, the track-batteryconnected thereto is short-circuited, thereby denergizing theelectromagnet connected thereto, which perv mits the correspondingarmature to fall into engagement with a contact in the local circuitwhich operates the signal. For instance, upon the fall of either or bothof the armatures D and D a local circuit through the signal mechanism Fis closed as follows battery G, lead g, to armature or armatures D D tothe contact-point E, through the signal mechanism, to the other pole ofthe battery. When either or both of the armatures D and D fall intoengagement with contact E, a local circuit is closed through the batteryG and signal mechanism F thereby actuating the latter.

It is evident that whenever any truck of a train occupies the insulatedtrack-section A the battery (1 would be shortcircuited, there bydeenergizing electromagnets C and C and permitting the'armatures D and Dto fall into contact with the points E and E respectively, which closesthe local circuits and actuates the signals at both points B and B Theoperation of the arrangement of circuits illustrated in Fig. 2 is asfollows: When a train enters the insulated track-sectionA, the battery11 is short-circuited and the armature D permitted to fall intoengagement with the contact E through the denergization of the magnet C.A local circuit through the battery G and signal mechanism F is therebyclosed, actuating the signal at point B. As soon as the front truck ofthe train enters the track-section A the battery (1 is short-circuited,thereby denergizin both of the magnets C and C and permitting the fallof the armatures D and D the latter closing the local circuit throughthe battery G and signal mechanism F through its engagement with contactE thereby operating the signal at the point B The operation of bothsignals continues until the last truck of the train passes from theinsulated track-section A, whereupon the battery a is no longershort-circuited, but energizes the magnet C, thereby lifting thearmature D out of engagement with the contact E, which discontinues thesignal at point B. When the train passes from the insulatedtrack-section A the battery a is no longer short-circuited, butenergizes the magnets C and C thereby elevating the armatures D and Dout of engagement with the contacts, which discontinues the signals atboth points B and B It might be noted that the short-circuiting of thebattery (1 by the train after passing the point B does not close thesignal-circuit at that point, inasmuch as the armature D having fallenon top of the armature D is lifted away from the contact-point E by theelevation of the armature D The same explanation applies to the signalat B when the train has passed from the insulated tracksection A,inasmuch as the elevation of the armature D will lift the armature Dwhich has fallen upon the former, out of contact with the point E,thereby discontinuing the signal at B as soon as the train has passedsuch point.

In order that both signals may be operated when the front truck of atrain enters upon the insulated track-section A when coming from theleft or when the train enters the insulated track-section A when comingfrom the right, I have illustrated means for short-circuiting thetrack-battery a thereby denergizing the magnets C and G which closes thesignal-circuits at both points B and B In order to effect the operationreferred to, I mount upon each of the armatures D, D D and D contacts h,71, 7?, and 7L4, respectively, such contacts being insulated from thearmatures. A fixed contact 6 is located between and in the path of thecontacts h and h and is connected by lead k with the lead 00 connectingthe magnets C with the rail X of the insulated track-section A A lead 76extends from the contact h to the lead of, connecting the magnet C withthe rail Y of the insulated track-section A A similar fixed contact e islocated between and in the path of the spring-contacts k and 71, and isconnected by lead k with the lead as, extending from the magnet C to therail X of the insulated track-section A The lead 76 connects the contacth4 with the lead y, extending from the magnet O to the rail Y of theinsulated track-section A". The ends of the spring-contacts h and M,which engage the fixed contacts 6 and 6 respectively, are provided withinsulating material, so that when either of the armatures D or D fallsbefore the armature D or D falls the short circuit around the magnets Cand C will not be closed.

The operation of the embodiment of my invention shown in Fig. 1 is asfollows: When a train approaching from the left enters the tracksectionA, the trackbattery a is short circuited, thereby denergizing the magnetC and permitting the armature D to-fall into contact with the fixedpoint E, thereby closing the signal-circuit through the local battery Gand signal mechanism F and also closing a short circuit around thetrack-battery a and denergizing the mag nets 0 and C as follows: rail Xof the insulated track-section A to leads :6 and 7: to fixed contact 6,to spring-contact h, to lead 7c, to lead 1 to rail Y of insulatedtrack-section A The deenergization of the magnet 0 permits the armatureD to fall into engagement with the fixed contact E thereby closing thelocal circuit through battery G operating the signal mechanism F atpoint B When the train passes from the tracksection A, magnet C isenergized, thereby elevating the armature D out of engagement withcontact E, which breaks the local circuit and discontinues the signal atB. The signal at B continues until the train has passed such point, whenit is discontinued by the energization of the magnet C by thetrack-battery (1, which is no longer short-circuited, the armature Dbeing thereby elevated out of engagement with the contact E and liftingwith it the armature D which falls upon the spring-contact on thearmature D through the short-circuiting of the track-battery a and aconsequent deenergization of the magnet O; The continuance of the shortcircuit around the battery a after the train has passed the point B isnot effected by reason of the insulated point on the spring-contact itbeing beneath the spring-contact h, breaking the short circuit throughthe leads lc, contact 7L4, fixed contact (2 lead 76 to lead 00 When atrain approaches from the right in Fig. 1, the operation is similar inall respects to that above explained and need not be, therefore,described in detail, it being suflicient to state that the signals atboth B and B are simultaneously operated when the front truck of a trainenters the insulated traclcsection A and both signals continue until thelast truck of the train has passed the point B when the signal at suchpoint is discontinued and signal at B continued until the last truck ofthe train has passed such point.

From the foregoing description it is evident that I have invented anarrangement of circuits for operating railro ad-signals whereby aplurality of "signals located at distant points are simultaneouslyoperated upon the ap proach of a train and are successively discontinuedas they are passed by the train in which no wire conductors are employedto connect the circuits at the several signals, the electricalconnection between the signals being entirely effected by the rails ofthe insulated track-section extending between the signals. It is furtherevident that the coils of the magnets O and G which are energized by thesingle-track battery a may be and preferably are each of a resistancedouble that of each of the magnets C and G which are energized byseparate track-batteries a and a in order that the battery a may be ofthe same strength as the batteries a and c g and yetnot be consumed anymore rapidly,

and consequently need not be recharged any oftener.

While I have shown a Hovey relay as the means for controlling the signalcircuit at each signal, I do notwish to be limited thereto, as any formof interlocking relay may obviously be employed.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a railroad signal system, the combination with aplurality ofsignals, of closed track-circuits controlling the operation of saidsignals, an insulated track-section between said signals to the rails ofwhich said circuits are connected, and a source of electricity directlyconnected to the rails of said tracksection whereby when the first truckof a train enters said insulated traclvsection said source ofelectricity is short-circuited, substantially as described.

2. In a railroad signal system, the combination with a plurality ofsignals, of normally open circuits for operating said signals,interlocking relays controlling said signal-circuits, closedtrack-sections including magnets of said relays, an insulatedtracksection between said signals to which are connected track-circuitsincluding magnets of both relays, and a source of electricity directlyconnected to the rails of said insulated track-section, whereby when thefirst truck of a train enters said insulated track-section said sourceof electricity is short-circuited and the magnets connected theretodeenergized, substantially as described.

3. In a railroad si nal system, the combination with a plura ityof'signals, of normally open circuits for operating said signals,insulated traclcsections at each side of said signals, an insulatedtrack-section extending between said signals, track -batteries directlyconnected to the rails of each insulated track section, closed trackcircuits leading from said insulated track-sections at either side ofeach signal, electroma nets in said track-circuits, armatures controling the signal-circuits operated by said magnets, means forshort-circuiting the track-battery connected to said track-sectionextending between the signals whenever a train approaches either signalthereby deenergizing a magnet at a second signal and rendering operativesaid signal, substantially as described.

4. In a railroad signal system, the combination with a plurality ofsignals, of circuits for operating said signals, insulated tracksectionsat each side of said signals, an insulated track-section extendingbetween said signals, track-batteries directly connected to the rails ofeach insulated track section, closed track-circuits leading from saidinsulated traclcsections at either side of each signal, electromagnetsin said track-circuits, armatures controlling the signalcircuitsoperated by said magnets, contacts carried by an armature at one signalcontrolling a short circuit around a magnet at a second signal therebydeenergizing said magnet and rendering operative said second signal,substan tially as described.

' 5. In a railroad signal system, the combination with a plurality ofsignals, of closed track-circuits controlling the operation of saidsignals, a plurality of insulated tracksections to one of which two ofthe said trackcircuits are connected and to each of the other of which asingle track-circuit is connected, track-batteries of equal strengthdirectly connected to said insulated track-sections, and magnets in saidtrack-circuits for controlling the signals the coils of those in thecircuits connected to the single track-section having a resistance twicethat'of the magnets in the other track-circuits, whereby the batteriesare consumed with equal rapidity, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

EUGENE W. VOGEL.

Witnesses:

GEO. L. WILKINSON, CLARA O. CUNNINGHAM.

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